It sometimes takes a great crisis in life to make one realize the true meaning of expressions which have been familiar to him and on his lips for years. In the humdrum sameness of unalert mortal mind there is a tendency to accept, without investigation or proof, metaphysical statements which may be no more understood than prayers which, are made out of lip service to public opinion or conventionality. To one who has thus been lulled into failure to probe new revelations of Truth to the very bottom, it need not be discouraging to be compelled to stop at the parting of the ways and ponder upon a step which may alter the whole course of an individual existence. The mental earthquakes which shake the very foundations of religious conviction are in the end beneficial, for they leave the thinker with a much more complete understanding of vital and fundamental truth.
Never does conflict leave a man where it found him. It may cause him temporarily to shut his ears to the voice of Truth, but in the end he must be again receptive to its promptings, for it is impossible to get away from what is after all universal,—infinite Life, Truth, and Love. On the other hand, one may never run away from the problem at all, but after a short, sharp struggle arrive, perhaps, in a moment, as it seems, at that point where one may with determination say, "Here I stand." In any event it will prove that the experience has been salutary and that increased understanding comes with the increased necessity for its use. Thus is the lesson embodied in the parable of the talents brought home to us. If we perceive, or think we perceive, I grain of truth, and instead of using it for the benefit of mankind we immediately go and bury it in the soil of forgetfulness, when the time comes to dig it up again for our own use we find that it has not been increased. We find that belief in the Truth has not been expanded into faith through proof, nor has faith been advanced to the final stage of thought, full spiritual understanding.
Thus it has been with at least one individual. For years the full volume of wisdom contained in the Church Manual was not apprehended. Looked at in a material way, that is, as a set of regulations for an organization known as a "church," in the commonly accepted meaning of that word, the helpfulness of the Manual in ordinary daily life was not perceived. Just as is possible with the Bible when regarded in this material way, the Manual even seemed in parts inconsistent. Yet it was mortal mind that was inconsistent, for it joined in praise of the Manual while yet unable in reality to detect its merits except in very small measure. Eventually there came one of those necessities which, as Mary Baker Eddy points out in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," are God's opportunities, and continuous resolute mental effort brought its reward. The floodgates were opened and the true meaning of unity in organization and of the pursuit of Principle as opposed to personality was more fully understood.
